Ram Issue/Bod's

I have 5 GB Ram, 2 x 1GB Gskill RAM About 5 years old, 1 x 1GB Gskill Ram about 4 months old (Fine) 1x 2GB Gskill Ram (Fine) The last two sticks work perfectly fine and boot up no matter what, but my 5 year old ram sometimes fails to post when I combo it with the other ram or when I use it alone with no other ram and sometimes it wokrs perfectly fine its very weird but I just installed the 2gb stick and sometimes it boots up but then it gets a BSOD always after. In order to get it to work with All of my 1gb sticks so 3gb in total i have to usually like move it around in places and wait until it stops failing to post then eventually it just works out of the blue, this is really bugging me now, i'd like to use all my ram but it's having some issues can anyone help? I have the bsod crash dumps if someone can remind me where to find them.

Btw like right now i have all my ram installed but only the 3gb 1 2 gig stick and 1 1g stick is working, or well i guess it could be all the 1 gig sticks but i dobut it.

How to Test your RAM

Guide Overview

The purpose of this guide is to teach you how to check whether your system's RAM (Ramdom Access Memory) is working properly. Bad RAM can lead to a whole host of problems, often which do not appear to have a single cause -- appearing as systemwide glitches, blue screens, and other system trouble. MemTest86+ provides a very good detection mechanism for failed RAM, and is about as good a test you get short of actually replacing the module itself.

Tools Needed
Please perform these steps from a separate, working, machine.

• Download MemTest86+, and unzip it to your desktop.
• Burn the image file to a CD, as an image file. If you're unsure how to do this, see the How to Burn an ISO File tutorial.

Perform these steps on the problem machine.

• Put your CD in the drive and configure your machine to boot to the CD. This is different on all machines, but it's usually by pressing F12 or F10 as your system boots, and selecting either "CDROM" or your cdrom drive. If you are unable to force a CDRom boot, reply with the make and model of your machine and I should be able to get you exact instructions.
• If you've done it correctly, MemTest86+ will start to run automaticly, as shown below:
  
• If you want to be reasonably your RAM is OK, then allow MemTest to run until you see this message:
  
  
  On the other hand, if you want to be completely sure your RAM is OK, allow MemTest to run overnight. Memtest will run forever until power is pulled on the machine.
• Check the MemTest screen for any reported errors. Errors will appear as RED warnings at the bottom of the screen, similar to the following screenshot:
  
• Hard-Reset the machine, removing the MemTest disk in the process.

If you didn't get an error screen, Congratulations!

Compliments of Billy O'Neal.

Yeah i did memtest a while aback and got red errors then like i kept removing and putting my ram back in and got it all to work fine again, so im guessing it's bad. I just RMA'd with G.Skill the 5-6 year old ram, they say they have a lifetime warranty so we will find out if they give me an rma code or not. Btw random question about rma'ing. Can I send a soft bubble package (small) through the regular mail with a stamp?

You should contact G.Skill about the packaging because if you use the wrong type, the company may refuse your RMA or even void your warranty so you can't return it again. Do not put the RAM directly in ordinary bubble wrap because it can cause damage through high voltage static electricity. Pink anti-static bubble wrap is OK, but not all pink bubble wrap is anti-static (the kind sold at the Post Office is not). If you have no anti-static padded material, put the RAM in a metalized plastic bag or even in aluminum foil, and wrap that with padding. Put your name & address and G.Skill's address plus RMA number on the bag or foil because envelopes sometimes break, and I know of cases where having an address label inside the package prevented small parts from becoming lost. Also I like to cover the RAM with corrugated cardboard for protection against stomping.

Do you have any boot problems when you use the newer RAM alone, one stick at a time? Because if so, the motherboard may be bad, which isn't unusual for one 5 years old (bad capacitors -- look around the DIMM slots). Otherwise I suspect the old RAM has developed a cracked solder joint, especially if the chips have no visible leads but instead are soldered under their bodies.

Yeah when I use both of the new sticks the 1gb and 2gb i never get a bsod ever and never have any boot issues in any of the slots ever. I put the ram inside the like brown envolope that newegg used to send me my 2gb stick of ram just yesterday or today whichever it was lol.

Put the RAM in a Electrostatic Discharge Bag that is silver and plastic. Wrapped in bubble wrap and in a padded envelope.